Piscina & Wellness Barcelona invites future architects to imagine an aquatic centre opposite the Sagrada Familia

Piscina & Wellness Barcelona launches a challenge for future architects from all over the world: to imagine the design of a hypothetical aquatic centre, suitable for public bathing, in front of the Sagrada Familia in Plaza Gaudí in the Catalan capital. With this conceptual exercise, which does not contemplate its execution, the Fira de Barcelona show is organising the third edition of the International Competition for Architecture Students that recognises young talent and reflects on new ways of understanding the relationship between human beings, architecture and the enjoyment of water, providing spaces for wellbeing, health and interaction for the community.

The competition proposes to the students the theoretical realisation of the project of an aquatic centre for public use in Plaza Gaudí in Barcelona, with the possibility of using all or part of the area delimited by Mallorca, Provenza, Marina and Lepanto streets. The project shall also include the design of the spaces necessary for the aquatic facility to be functional (accesses, interior routes, changing rooms, water area and other areas open to users or basic areas for management).

The jury – made up of architects and representatives of the pool and wellness sector, the Institut Municipal de Parcs i Jardins de Barcelona and the sponsor of the competition, Fluidra – will take into consideration the contribution of sustainable concepts in the architectural proposal and in the use of the installation, as well as the implementation of innovative solutions that reflect on the value of water for uses related to health, wellbeing and the community. It will also take into account the block geometry of Barcelona’s Cerdà Plan, its formal and visual relationship with the emblematic church of the Sagrada Familia and the landscaping of the green area where it will be located.

Architecture students from any country can participate in this competition (either individually or in teams), with the sole condition of being enrolled at some point in the year 2021 in an Official School of Architecture. The Competition will award three cash prizes: 2,000 euros for the best project, 1,000 euros for the second-best project and 500 euros for the third-best project. The deadline for submissions is 2 November 2021.

The names of the winners will be announced on 29 November at an event to be held as part of the Piscina & Wellness Barcelona exhibition. The three first prizes, together with the finalist projects, will be on public display throughout the trade fair.

In the second edition of the competition, held in 2019, 20 projects were submitted by students from Spain, Chile, Mexico, Brazil and Singapore, who imagined an aquatic centre in the Port Vell venue of Barcelona, in the area bounded by the Moll de les Drassanes and the Rambla del Mar. The winner was the project “Caicai Vilu 11 (The heartbeat of water)” presented by Ramón Díaz, Miguel Rubio, Zaskya Ruíz and Fabián Peña, students at the University of Architecture, Urbanism and Geography in Concepción (Chile).

About Piscina & Wellness Barcelona
Organised by Fira de Barcelona in collaboration with the Spanish Association of Swimming Pool Professionals (ASOFAP), Piscina & Wellness Barcelona is the most international event on the sector’s European trade fair calendar. It will hold its next edition in hybrid format (face-to-face and virtual) from 29 November to 2 December 2021 together with Barcelona Building Construmat. The fair brings together the entire value chain of swimming pool products for residential and public use, as well as facilities, equipment and accessories related to wellness, spa, fitness and interior design. It also includes different activities for knowledge, reflection, networking and recognition, such as this Competition and the Piscina & Wellness Awards, to project the values of innovation in the pool and wellness sector.

Mª Gloria Dilluvio / Maria Dolors Herranz
Tel. 93 233 21 72 – 25 41
gdilluvio@firabarcelona.com / mdherranz@firabarcelona.com